Practice golf-ball.



J. H. McELROY. PRACTICE GOLF BALL. APPLICATIQN FILED MAR. 8, I915- 1,262,532. Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

\ flag 41 JOHN HOWARD MQELROY, OF CHICAGO, ILLIITOISQ ranc'rrcn GOLF-BALL.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr, 9, 1918.

Application filed March s, 1915. Serial No. 12,741.

J '0 1Z2; :whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, JOHN HOWARD Mo- ELRoY, a citizen of the United States, and

a resident of Chicago, 1n the county of Cook and State of IlllIlOlS, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Practice 'shot; or, 1f used in the house, it can be driven against the side of a room withoutthe possibility of damaging the wall or furniture, no matter how hardit is hit. It is also useful for practice at the indoor golf schools, where the balls are driven against a net, necessarily placed rather close to the tee, and is more useful for this purpose than the regulation golf balls, in that its flight is so much shorter than that of the ordinary ball that if the shot is faulty and the ball is sliced or pulled, the lateral curve will be apparent before it strikes the net, whereas a sliced or pulled shot against the nets with an ordinaryxball is not readily apparent, as the lateral curve "would not tend to show until the ball had traveled in the air a much greater distance than that to the net. Likewise, it makes outdoor instruction in golf easier, as if these light practice balls are used, they will, in the 'short distance they travel, show up the faults of the strokes,

- but will be driven such a short distance that it is much easier for the caddy to retrieve them, and so much time does not have to be wasted waiting for their return. In addition to their superiority for practice shots,

they have the value of being vastly cheaper to manufacture, so that a golfer can have a large number of them without investing a very considerable sum.

To illustrate my invention, I annex hereto a sheet of drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a ball constrclllcted in accordance with my. invention; an

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the same;

As-will be seen, the body of the ball is composed of a soft, spongy. material, and for this purpose I preferably employ what is known as rubber sponge, which is formed by curin raw rubber, or a raw rubber compoun impregnated with a gas-generating chemical, so that when it is cured the chemical causes the rubber to become expanded into a cellular structure, much like salt rising bread, only with somewhat coarser cells; I preferably use just enough raw material for each ball so that it is of the proper size when cured, so that the skin, corresponding to the crust of a loaf of bread, may be leftin place, to its durability, as if the skin were trimmed off, as must be done in manufacturing rubber sponges, it would -of course not be so durable, although the trimmed ball is superior in that it flies a slightly less distance under the same impact.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

As a new and useful article of manufacture, a spherical integral practice golf ball thus adding materially composed throughout itsbody of light rub- Joan HOWARD McELROY. [11.5.]

Witnemesi M. Honnme, J N0. G; Emma. 

